DHAKA, Nov 28, 2023 (BSS)-New Zealand off spinner Glenn Phillips who claimed 
4-37 to play a key role in Bangladesh's batting slump on day one of the first 
cricket Test said he was not happy to get his first Test wicket with a full-
toss delivery.

Playing just his second Test, Phillips opened his account with the wicket of 
Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto who skied a catch to Kane Williamson 
in the deep. 

"I have dreamed of getting my first Test wicket for a long time, but that was 
not how I thought I would get it," Phillips said after the day one game.

"You see leg spinners often bowl absolute peaches and then a nice juicy full-
toss. The batters eyes light up, and it goes straight up. I have always 
wanted a little piece of that, but I didn't want it for my first Test wicket. 
Maybe we can replace with the second wickets."

Having said this, he showed some sympathy to Shanto also, saying: "I have got 
out to full-tosses. Every batter gets out to full-tosses. I just got a little 
bit lucky."

Phillips was a wicket-keeper batter indeed but to make his case stronger for 
a spot in the Test team, he turned him as allrounder. He said he worked hard 
to remove the tag of wicket-keeper batter to establish him as allrounder 
because competition for a spot in New Zealand Test team is stiff.

"I have been trying to lose the wicketkeeper-batter tag for a long time now. 
Hopefully this (four-wicket haul) puts a little stamp on things. I worked 
really hard over it for quite a number of years now with this goal in mind," 
he said.

"I also felt that I needed to offer something with the ball in order to play 
Test cricket. Our batting line-up is incredibly strong. Key to getting this 
opportunity was to play the allrounder's role. As far as processes go, I have 
worked for the last few years trying to find process for my bowling."

Despite ending the day with a little edge, Phillips believes the way the 
pitch is favouring the spinners, the task for them will be tougher one also.

"There were patches when Bangladesh really had us on the ropes. We pulled it 
back nicely. We had some good periods. We thought that if we built a lot of 
pressure, we can get the rewards as well. It was maybe a 50/50 day. We put in 
some really good yards. We had a lot of good plans, and tried to be as 
patient as possible," he said. 

"The pitch is turning quite nicely. It held together really well for day one. 
Shoriful will be creating footmarks on the other side, presents a new element 
to the second innings for both teams. I think it will be really interesting 
to see how to plays going forward. We have a long batting order of our own, 
so potentially if the pitch holds itself for long enough, that the first 
innings should hopefully be equal. It would set up a quite nice final day or 
two," he added.